“I shall get you a better horse before next winter. Whitefoot is growing old. Bessie, I ought not to be dissatisfied when you have been so good to me; but do you not think it would be possible to induce your father to change his mind?”
Bessie did not pretend to misunderstand his meaning; she only said gently:
“No, Richard; and I do not think it would be right to ask him;” and then she added, “You know dear Hatty will only have been dead a year.”
“Yes, I see what you mean,” he replied slowly, “and I must not be selfish; but next October is a long time to wait, Bessie.”
“It will not seem so,” she answered brightly, “and we must not hurry your mother; there will be Edna’s marriage in June, and my visit to The Grange, and every now and then you will come here.”
“Yes, and there will be my mother to settle in her new house—you see what Edna says in her letter, that they have decided not to separate; that means that my mother will take a house at Kensington. Well, I dare say that will be for the best; but when my mother goes The Grange will want its mistress.”
“It will not want her long,” she said very gently, “and Richard, dear, you have promised not to be impatient. Mother is not ready to part with me yet. I shall not like to think of you being lonely in that big house; but it will not be for long.”
“And, after all, I shall not be lonely,” he returned, for he was not to be outdone in unselfishness. “I shall be getting the house ready for you, and the new mare. Oh, and there will be a hundred things to do, and in the evenings I shall talk to Mac about his new mistress, and he will look up in my face with his wise, deep-set eyes, as though he understood every word, and was as glad as I was that October would soon come.”
“Poor old Mac!” she exclaimed; and there was a soft color in her face as she interrupted him. “You must give him a pat from me, and to all the dear dogs—Leo, and Gelert, and Brand, and Bill Sykes—we must not forget Bill Sykes—and Tim, and Spot; and tell them—” And then she stopped and looked at him with a smile.
“What shall I tell them?” he asked coaxingly; “that you will be glad too, when October comes?”